November 20 came and, without missing a beat, I headed to Target to pick up the hard copy of Adele’s new CD, 25. After locating a good ol’ CD-player, I pressed play, closed my eyes, and fell in love with her heartbreaks, tragedy, and strength. Then the text came.

My sister informed me that Adele had just released her European tour dates, but she didn’t have any concerts announced in the States. I told her we had no choice but to go to Europe. She sent a “LOL,” and that was the end of that. But little did she know…

… On the other side of the phone, I raced to the computer to identify a few tour dates that didn’t overlap with work conferences. Pre-sales were starting the following week, and to ensure I didn’t miss a beat, I registered for her pre-sale ticket announcement – with all 6 of my email addresses.

A few days later, the email(s) arrived letting me know that pre-sale tickets for her European Tour were starting the following day at 9:00 A.M. London time (4:00 A.M. Eastern Time) and to click the following link to ensure my place in the queue.

4:00 A.M. arrived and immediately upon clicking the link, I entered the queue for the 4 different concerts, with the hopes that I’d be successful for one. As each minute passed, I kept moving closer to the top of the queue… I was feeling good. Then an hour and a half later, BOOM! System overload! SOLD OUT. ALL 4. SOLD OUT. Just like that.

That hurt. I was bummed.

After a few days of feeling disappointed, I received another email stating that Adele was releasing more concerts in Europe. I looked at my calendar and realized I was going to be in Belize when the tickets were going on sale…and one thing about Belize, when the internet is running, IT’S GREAT. But when it’s not, you’re S.O.L.

Pre-sale, round 2 came again, this time at 3:00 A.M. Belize time. Internet was running quickly, and after waiting 30 minutes on the virtual queue, I got the pop-up… I successfully claimed two tickets for unassigned seats at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam!

Let the Euro-trip planning begin! I messaged my sister and her reaction was similar to when she informed me of Adele’s concert in the first place: “LOL”… followed by, “WAIT, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!!”

Fast forward 7 months to the concert.

I don’t know how I scored the tickets that we had. Really. They weren’t expensive compared to other concerts I had gone to with mile-high seats, and I certainly wasn’t the first one in line. But I can tell you, they were undeniably some of the best seats in the house. Being 4 rows from the front stage and 2 seats away from the aisle she walked down, I experienced a concert like I never had before.

Adele opened with her incredibly massive hit, “Hello,” and no lat

er than three words into the song, tears resulting from a roller coaster of emotions streamed down my face. Truthfully, I don’t remember the last time I cried before that moment, but this was warranted. Her voice was so raw and so full of passion. It felt as if she was speaking to just me, in a room full of 17,000 people. Wow. Just wow.

For three hours, I was in a trance. She took me, and the rest of the audience, on her journey, which ultimately became everyone’s journey. She shared her life story, made us laugh, grieved over her devastating heartbreaks. And most importantly, she was relatable…and that was the part that hit home.

That night I understood the meaning of music.

A few months later, Adele released tour dates in the States and my best friend from high school and I went. Although we weren’t nearly as close as in Amsterdam, she was just as beautiful, genuine, and powerful.